Some dogs are bred solely for their ability to help a disabled human get through life.

But there are times when disabled animals help each other…even when they’re not of the same species!

Here’s one of the oddest and most heartwarming cases we’ve ever seen:

It began when Judy Godfrey-Brown of Holyhead, North Wales brought a cat home to join her growing farm family.

Judy owned several cats, along with a 14-year-old blind and mostly deaf Labrador Retriever named Terfel.

He had managed to get through life pretty well with only partial hearing. His hearing loss had been apparent since he was a puppy but then, the situation got worse.

One day, vets noticed that Terfel was beginning to get cataracts in his eyes, and it wasn’t long before those beautiful eyes had clouded over into milky white.

Every day that passed took more of Terfel’s vision away.

Soon he was bumping into things when he tried to walk about in the house, and walking outside was terrifying for him.

So, Terfel had taken to just spending his days snoozing in his bed. He didn’t want to walk outdoors any more, even with Judy. The poor guy was literally sleeping his life away.

Then Judy brought home Pudditat and everything changed on the farm…

First of all, the other cats didn’t like him at all. They found him overbearing and rude and they shunned him.

“He’s not very nice to the other cats,” Judy told NatGeo. “He will bully the other cats a bit into submission.”

He liked life on his own. He didn’t need anybody…well, so long as Judy put enough food down every day.

Then, one day Pudditat came into the house and he met Terfel. And amazingly, he seemed to realize that Terfel needed help that his human couldn’t give him.

Pudditat “prefers Terfel to any of the other cats,” Judy said. “I think he must have known Terfel was blind because he sort of bonded with him straight away.”

Judy added, “I’ve never seen anything like it—most cats and dogs hate each other.”

From that day on, the two were inseparable. At first, they just slept together a lot.

They hung out on the couch, or on Terfel’s bed, or in a spot of sunshine on the rug. It didn’t matter, so long as they were together.

Judy even took them on rides together. Terfel enjoyed that a little more than Pudditat did, but wherever Terfel went, so there they went!

Little by little, Pudditat got Terfel up and about. First, around the house.

He walked just in front of Terfel so he didn’t bump into things. They ate together, they slept together, and now they roamed about together.

One of the happiest days of Judy’s life was one day when Terfel followed Pudditat out of the house and onto the grounds of the farm.

It was his first trip outside since he’d gone totally blind.

With Pudditat nearby to alert him to dangers, Terfel relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine and breezes.

They go outside pretty often now, but they still enjoy just cuddling on the couch. Usually, Pudditat takes the opportunity to keep him well groomed.

And Terfel doesn’t seem to mind whatever Puddytat does. So long as he doesn’t leave!

Having a friend like Pudditat has turned a dark and dreary existence for Terfel into a happy and bright life. Pretty incredible, right?

The post Blind Dog Resists All Efforts To Stand Until He Gets An Inspiring New Friend appeared first on Addicting Stories.

A best friend knows all the bad stuff about you and still loves you anyway.

They can make long days seem shorter, heavy loads seem lighter and can make you smile when you thought you’d never smile again.

It’s not just humans that have their BFFs either. When the going gets tough, everyone realizes you need a friend to help get you through.

When Golden Retriever Forsberg (is that not the coolest name ever?) met the cat his parents had brought home, he wasn’t too sure about it.

But then something beautiful happened.

Forsberg learned that cats weren’t the monsters he’d imagined. And Ginger decided that Forsberg wasn’t all bad, either.

So, Forsberg the Golden and Ginger, the orange tabby cat, ignored the stories and became best friends!

For the next eight years, they were inseparable. Where you saw one, you saw the other. They ate together, they patrolled the house together and they slept together.

As the years passed, both of them entered “seniorhood.” A lot of their playing and patrolling was replaced with just a lot of snuggling on the couch together.

Unfortunately, years are a lot harder on dogs and cats than they are on humans.

After eight years of having Ginger beside him 24 hours a day and tragically, Forsberg awakened to an empty couch one morning.

Ginger had succumbed to thyroid cancer. She had lived 15 wonderful years, but, it wasn’t nearly enough.

Forsberg immediately began to grieve, just as anyone would do if they suddenly lost their best friend.

Every day he roamed the house searching for Ginger. But, she wasn’t there.

He grew more and more depressed, and his family began to worry about him. His health was starting to be affected by his grief.

So, they did the only thing they could think of that might snap Forsberg out of his doldrums.

They adopted a new cat!

They didn’t try to replace Ginger; they knew that nothing or no one ever could.

The little long-haired black kitty they brought home resembled Ginger in only one way:

She fell in love with Forsberg almost immediately! And, the family noted that thankfully, it was mutual.

Before long, Forsberg was back to patrolling the house, this time with a little black shadow by his side.

And when it was time for a nap, the new kitten named Maxwell curled up almost exactly the way Ginger had always done beside him.

It’s been two years since the little black kitty came to Forsberg’s life and in the end, we learn once again that best friends come in all shapes and sizes. And species!

Source: The Animal Rescue Site

The post Golden Lab Is Crushed When His Cat BFF Dies – Only One Thing Can Make Him Happy Again appeared first on Addicting Stories.

Although some dogs step into their roles more easily than others, by the time they have that jacket buckled around them they’ve gone through quite a bit of intensive training.

There are three types of service or assistance dogs: guide dog, hearing dog, and service dog.

Not only do the dogs have to be trained in their specific area, but they must also be trained to have extraordinary focus.

They can’t run the risk of being distracted; at the very least, their owner could get hurt and in a worse case scenario, it could create a life or death situation.

And that is where a very special cat named…can you believe it?…D.O.G comes in. It’s pronounced “dee-oh-gee” and he’s every bit as unusual as his name implies…

One of the top dogs at a St. Louis canine training center is actually a cat with the name D-O-G. https://t.co/ARdLUunbAr pic.twitter.com/iSCJcqfdHz

— AP Central U.S. (@APCentralRegion) December 14, 2017

His personality makes him invaluable for the training facility, and it also makes him a big hit with all the personnel too.

“There are a few staff members who like to pretend they’re exclusively dog lovers, but everyone secretly adores D-O-G,” Support Dogs, Inc. CEO Anne Klein said.

“He’s spoiled rotten.”

Klein told People Pets back in September that the office is pretty cushy for D-O-G, who has a multi-level cat condo all to himself and all the dogs he can play with!

The post When You Meet A Cat Named “D.O.G.”, You Know He Is A Serious Bad A** appeared first on Addicting Stories.